Latest Comments for Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be on http://www.onthemedia.org/http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/Latest Comments for Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be on http://www.onthemedia.org/en-usSat, 19 Apr 2014 18:43:18 -0400600cleanComment #512740 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment512740I just got fired because someone posted a horrible review about me about asking a customer to tip me in cash so I can keep the money to myself. The whole thing is a lie and I'm thinking a coworker framed me by using 3 drunk guys as my table as a background. One of them Facebook friended me to apologize for them being drunk and when I told him what happened he couldn't believe it! They'll all gonna go into the restaurant and get things straight. I probably won't get my job back and now I'm marked untrustworthy in the industry. Should I contact a lawyer or do you have any advice?
Thank you
Sat, 19 Apr 2014 18:43:18 -0400http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment512740Comment #490320 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment490320The problem with putting the burden of proof on Yelp as "phil28" suggests is that it is borderline impossible for an independent company like Yelp to decide what are factual errors. What burden of proof is sufficient ? In particular, when they get into the business of essentially fact checking reviews (albeit on demand), they will have to take a certain responsibility for the correctness. This again will open the door to a legal hell that no company wants to be in.
Regarding "phil28" post, I find it also rude and unresponsible to post names that way.
Tue, 14 Jan 2014 23:58:51 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment490320Comment #489618 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489618I absolutely agree that there should be some form of "proof of purchase" for neg or pos reviews on yelp. I personally know of a case where a false neg review got a friend of mine fired from a bar job because she refused service to a group of obviously intoxicated young men. I was at the pub the night it happened, and the next day a negative campaign began on yelp (and on the pub's FB)claiming all sorts of thing about her. They fired her.
Other restaurants in town have a policy of 3 neg reviews and a server is let go, no investigation as the truth of the matter, or say perhaps a jilted boyfriend posted garbage.
Sun, 12 Jan 2014 15:35:07 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489618Comment #489371 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489371Yelp has brought this on themselves. I've done research for a newspaper article and have spoken to many businesses with both positive and negative reviews. What's consistent is that Yelp doesn't respond to complaints of wrong information about the businesses, will not respond when businesses are reviewed by competitors or non-customers.
I've viewed images of several businesses' Yelp pages before and after they began paying Yelp $300 per month for "advertising", and the same negative reviews shown at the top of the page, moved to Yelp's section of untrusted reviews once the payments began. Yelp operates much like an extortion racket: pay and your business will be shown in a more positive light and you will be able to communicate with your salesperson to correct errors. Don't pay and we will ignore you, and in some cases push negative reviews to the top of the list.
These are Yelp's board of directors and they should be contacted by those that believe they've been wronged by Yelp:
Jeremy Stoppelman
Geoff Donaker
Fred Anderson
Peter Fenton
Robert Gibbs
Diane Irvine
Max Levchin
Jeremy Levine
Keith Rabois
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 12:56:53 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489371Comment #489065 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489065I think this brings up two very important issues. The first is whether there should be a legal protection against law suits and other legal actions intended to impair speech of consumers (aka SLAPP suits http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation ). I do think that this should be addressed as well as other speech and what can be considered anonymous. I would hope that people dismiss most anonymous speech when anonymity is unnecessary as it would be once legal reform to protect online speech is enacted.
The second issue is the role of identity and authentication. Indicating that one is a consumer is inadequate without some authentication. It is much easier to authenticate a purchaser within the online system of the seller as opposed to in an independent site. Unfortunately, tweets and blog posts are rarely aggregated in ways that provide others to access them as reviews associated with a product or service that can be easily found. A twitter account and blog are good at allowing the reviewer to prove their personal identity and gain a reputation and at the same time avoid the potential issues of moderation and authentication of a reviewer on the seller's or independent review site. It would be better if the reviewer owned their words, however there are not unique identifiers (URLS for example) that are available for every reviewed subject.
Instead of or in addition to the receipt number there should be a URL/unique identifier for the specific item generically (e.g. Model number or restaurant), the specific transaction, and the specific serial number if possible. This would allow the blog post or review web page to be easily aggregated by search engines and have a higher level of authentication for the reviewer and their relationship with the seller (actual customer versus rogue reviewer). In addition there is a HTML5 metadata standard for reviews that would provide even more applications and analysis across multiple reviewers and sites (microdata).
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:35:06 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489065Comment #489055 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489055First off, congrats on a nuanced view of a complex issue. Like a lot of us, I've been on both sides of this. On one hand, I don't want others to be burned by doing business with shysters. On the other, I, personally, have been burned by online reviews by individuals that I can guarantee I have never met, who are, in fact, acting as agents for someone else. So the rub is how to encourage honesty. When we figure that one out, we'll all be a lot better off - in more ways than one.
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 13:05:50 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489055Comment #489049 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489049Does reputation.com still sponsor OTM? I remember hearing the "ads" for it on the podcast and always thought it was weird, since I assume they run their business by threatening bad/suspected fake reviewers with litigation.
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 12:55:52 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489049Comment #489002 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489002God, LimeWire.
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 12:12:36 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment489002Comment #488959 on Leaving Negative Reviews Online is Not As Safe As It Used To Be
http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment488959Alex, the code on the receipt idea is genius. You need to market that!!
The Yelp case in VA illustrates the diminishing nature of anonymity on the internet, which is probably a good thing. In the last few years I've been transforming nearly my entire web identity to my actual name, and it seems to be working out ok...so far.
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 11:52:31 -0500http://www.onthemedia.org/story/leaving-negative-reviews-online-not-safe-it-used-be/#comment488959